Date: Apr 04, 2013 Source: MedCity News (
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Another early stage California company in stealth mode has garnered a round of financing. This time it's a biotech company called Nurix Inc., founded by three University of California, San Francisco and University of California, Berkeley researchers to leverage their drug discovery platform and develop new therapeutics for inflammatory diseases.
Nurix revealed the closing of $5.3 million in equity financing from four investors in a securities filing. According to its website, the San Francisco-based startup is backed by The Column Group and Third Rock Ventures.
With its drug discovery platform, the company was formed to identify and develop inhibitors of the kinase ZAP-70, which has been shown to play a critical function in progression of T-cell-dependent autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis and psoriasis, according to an abstract published with the notice of a $300,000 SBIR grant. The company says its focus is on finding leads for new T-cell-specific immunosuppressant drugs.
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Formed in 2009 as Kura Therapeutics, the company appears to be led by Tim Kutzkey, a partner at The Column Group, and Mark Goldsmith, a partner at Third Rock. It first raised a $3.1 million round raised last year.
